Witherspoon v. State

46 S.W.3d 549, 74 Ark. App. 151, 2001 Ark. App. LEXIS 487
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 13, 2001
DocketCA CR 00-1288
StatusPublished

This text of 46 S.W.3d 549 (Witherspoon v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Witherspoon v. State, 46 S.W.3d 549, 74 Ark. App. 151, 2001 Ark. App. LEXIS 487 (Ark. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

JOSEPHINE Linker Hart, Judge.

Appellant, Derrick Lamont Witherspoon, who was charged by an information filed in circuit court with the crimes of capital murder and first-degree battery, brings this interlocutory appeal from the circuit court’s denial of his motion to transfer the case to juvenile court. Appellant argues on appeal that the circuit court clearly erred in denying his motion to transfer because the decision was not supported by clear and convincing evidence and because the circuit court considered improper evidence in making the decision. We affirm.

The felony information charged appellant, appellant’s two brothers, Lonnie Beulah and Eric Beulah, and Erik Bullock with capital murder, asserting that, with premeditated and deliberated purpose, they caused the death of Heaven Pace. The information further charged that they committed the crime of first-degree battery by causing physical injury to a pregnant woman, Shiwona Pace, causing her to suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth as a result of the injury. At the juvenile-transfer hearing, Charles Weaver, a homicide detective with the Little Rock Police Department, testified that he investigated the death of the unborn child. He stated that, on August 26, 1999, at 11:59 p.m., police responded to a report of a home-intrusion robbery. Shiwona Pace, who was expected to deliver her child the next day, was taken to a hospital for her injuries, where it was determined that her child was dead.

After learning of the child’s death, Weaver went to the crime scene and spoke to Erik Bullock. Appellant objected to Weaver’s testimony regarding what he was told by Bullock, arguing that such testimony was hearsay and its admission violated his right to confront witnesses against him. The State noted that Bullock was a codefendant, and the court overruled appellant’s objections. According to Weaver, Bullock told him that when he and Shiwona Pace entered the residence, three or four black males who were in the residence removed him to the bedroom and left Pace in the living room, and they were both beaten.

Weaver testified that his investigation led him to appellant, appellant’s older brother, Eric Beulah, and appellant’s younger brother, Lonnie Beulah.1 Weaver told the court that during an interview with appellant at the Pine Bluff Police Department, appellant gave a statement to police regarding the homicide. When appellant objected to Weaver’s testimony, arguing that his statement to police should not be admitted into evidence because it was not voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently given, the circuit court overruled the objection.

According to Weaver, appellant explained that he was approached by Eric Beulah, who told him that Bullock wanted them to beat up a woman because the woman was attempting to obtain money from Bullock by claiming that Bullock was the father of her child. Appellant was to go to Little Rock and wait for Bullock and Pace at Bullock’s residence. Once there, they were to beat Pace. Appellant admitted that he pulled Bullock and Pace into the house, forced them to the ground, and “slapped on” Pace. Appellant stated that they possessed a BB gun and he wore a mask that resembled pantyhose and was black in color. Further, he thought he would be compensated by Bullock and he participated because he believed he would be paid.

On cross-examination, Weaver testified that Detective Eric Knowles was also present during the taking of appellant’s statement. Appellant then argued that the court should not consider appellant’s statement because the statement was involuntarily obtained, and the State had the burden of producing Detective Knowles at the hearing. The court overruled the objection, noting that a motion to suppress had not been filed.

The State established appellant’s date of birth as December 15, 1981; thus, appellant was seventeen years of age at the time of the crime and eighteen at the time of the hearing. Through various exhibits, the State established that appellant was adjudicated a delinquent on three separate occasions. His first adjudication occurred on May 2, 1997, for theft of property, and he was placed on probation. On October 14, 1997, he was adjudicated a delinquent for aggravated robbery, and, on the same day, he was adjudicated a delinquent for theft of property. Appellant was placed on probation for two years for the two adjudications. On November 18, 1998, appellant’s probation was revoked for failure to comply with the conditions of his probation, and, on December 1, 1998, appellant was committed to the Division of Youth Services for an indeterminate period of time, with a recommendation that he be placed in the serious-offender program. The commitment order noted that appellant “has been on intensive probation, refuses to obey probation rules, refuses to report for drug screens, [and] is missing school.” The order further noted that appellant had been to drug treatment but had not gone to Alcoholic or Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the circuit court denied appellant’s motion to transfer. In a written order denying the motion to transfer, the court stated that because of “the seriousness of the offense and the degree of violence employed in the commission of the offense, combined with [appellant’s] juvenile record which indicates that he has previously been adjudicated delinquent, this Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that [appellant] should be tried as an adult ... and hereby denies the Motion to Transfer to Juvenile Court.”

On appeal from the circuit court’s denial of his motion to transfer, appellant argues that he was denied a meaningful hearing because there was no evidence to substantiate the serious and violent nature of the charges, noting that the victim did not testify at the hearing “and all other testimony was improperly admitted and considered by the trial court over objection.” He argues that the circuit court should not have considered Weaver’s testimony regarding what he was told by Bullock because such testimony was hearsay and denied appellant his right to confront witnesses against him. He contends that such testimony went not only to the seriousness of the offense but also to the degree of violence employed, both of which were reasons cited by the circuit court for retaining jurisdiction. He also argues that Weaver’s testimony regarding appellant’s statement to the detectives should not have been considered because Detective Knowles was present during the taking of the statement and the State failed to produce Knowles at the hearing on the motion to transfer. Finally, he argues that the court did not consider other factors which he contends were favorable to him.

In determining whether to retain jurisdiction or to transfer the case, the circuit court considers all of the following factors:

(1) The seriousness of the alleged offense and whether the protection of society requires prosecution as an extended juvenile jurisdiction offender or in circuit court;
(2) Whether the alleged offense was committed in an aggressive, violent, premeditated, or willful manner;
(3) Whether the offense was against a person or property, with greater weight being given to offenses against persons, especially if personal injury resulted;

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Bluebook (online)
46 S.W.3d 549, 74 Ark. App. 151, 2001 Ark. App. LEXIS 487, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/witherspoon-v-state-arkctapp-2001.